Lowell Cohn's pertinent and impertinent take on sports

Rolando McClain and the Raiders’ dilemma

Here is the opening to my Tuesday column about Rolando McClain, apparently a gunslinger.

The Raiders should flee from Rolando McClain.

As you surely know, a judge in Alabama recently convicted McClain, the Raiders’ first-round draft pick in 2010, on four misdemeanors. They are third-degree assault, menacing, reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm in city limits. If McClain serves the time, he will be in jail 180 days and would miss all of next season.

The conviction stems from a fight McClain had last November when he left the Raiders and went home for his grandfather’s funeral. While in Alabama, he did more than attend the funeral and deal with his grief. He goaded one friend to fight another friend and is alleged to have fired a gun near the head of one friend after making him beg for his life. The judge clearly believes that’s what McClain did.